IRVINE, Calif. – June 15, 2007 – Mississippi reported 219 foreclosure filings in May, a 158 percent increase in activity from the previous month, and 291 percent above the level reported for the same month last year, according to the latest RealtyTrac™ U.S. Foreclosure Market Report.

RealtyTrac publishes the largest and most comprehensive national database of pre-foreclosure and foreclosure properties, with over 900,000 properties from nearly 2,500 counties across the country, and is the foreclosure data provider to MSN Real Estate, Yahoo! Real Estate and The Wall Street Journal’s Real Estate Journal.

“Mississippi continues to struggle post Hurricane Katrina, which is evident in the increasing number of foreclosures within the state” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “Even though home price appreciation appeared to level off and unemployment went down slightly for the first quarter of the year, it is important to remember that foreclosures are a lagging indicator of economic activity.”

Mississippi ranked 40th in the country in total foreclosures reported for May. The state’s foreclosure rate was 0.1 times the national average.The state posted the 47th highest foreclosure rate in the country for the month — one foreclosure filing for every 5,794 households.

Bulk of state total found in two counties

Foreclosure filings in two Mississippi counties accounted for 77 percent of all foreclosure activity in the state for May. De SotoCounty led the state, reporting 99 foreclosure filings for the month. HindsCounty came in second, reporting 69 foreclosure filings. The third highest total was reported by MadisonCounty with 14 filings.

De SotoCounty leads state in foreclosure rate for the month

De SotoCounty posted the highest foreclosure rate in Mississippi for May — one foreclosure filing for every 412 households — 14.1 times the state average and 1.6 times the national average. HindsCounty tallied the state’s second highest rate — one foreclosure filing for every 1,453 households — four times the state average. Third highest was Madison County with one foreclosure filing for every 2,056 households — 2.8 times the state average.

State makes small contribution to national total for May

Total foreclosure filings in Mississippi accounted for less than 1 percent of the 176,137 foreclosure filings nationwide. The national total was up 19 percent from the previous month, and up 90 percent from May 2006. The nation’s foreclosure rate increased to one foreclosure filing for every 656 U.S. households during the month.

The RealtyTrac Monthly U.S. Foreclosure Market Report provides the total number of homes in some stage of foreclosure nationwide, by state and by county. RealtyTrac’s report includes properties in all three phases of foreclosure: Defaults — Notice of Default (NOD) and Lis Pendens (LIS); Auctions — Notice of Trustee Sale and Notice of Foreclosure Sale (NTS and NFS); and Real Estate Owned, or REO properties (that have been foreclosed on and repurchased by a bank).

For current news and information regarding foreclosure-related issues and trends, check out our blog at www.ForeclosurePulse.com.

Ranked as the third largest real estate site by MediaMetrix, and No. 53 on Inc. magazine’s 2006 Inc. 500 list of the nation’s fastest growing private companies, RealtyTrac Inc. (www.realtytrac.com), is the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, providing all the resources that home seekers, investors and real estate agents need to locate, evaluate and buy properties below market value.

Founded in 1996, RealtyTrac publishes the largest and most comprehensive national database of pre-foreclosure, foreclosure, For Sale By Owner, resale and new construction properties, with more than 1.3 million properties across the country, property reports, productivity tools and extensive professional resources. RealtyTrac hosts nearly 3 million unique visitors monthly and has been chosen to supply foreclosure data to MSN Real Estate, Yahoo! Real Estate and the Wall Street Journal’s Real Estate Journal. For more information, visit (www.realtytrac.com).

About RealtyTrac

RealtyTrac® is the leading provider of comprehensive housing data and analytics for the real estate and financial services industries, Federal, state and local governments, academic institutions, and the media. Data is aggregated from parcel-level records of more than 125 million U.S. residential and commercial properties and delivered through customizable products including bulk file licensing, APIs and custom reports.